‘Greening' transitional justice?

Abstract

Environmental degradation and exploitation can act as both a source and a consequence of conflict and atrocity. From the use of resource extraction as a means of funding conflict to the long-term impact of landmines, conflict and the environment have a complex relationship which extends far beyond the cessation of hostilities. In this context, it is notable that transitional justice – a field defined by questions of how to respond to atrocity and conflict – has paid little attention to the interconnections between conflict, transition and the environment. Indeed, the prevalent anthropocentrism of transitional justice scholarship has meant that environmental harms are often unseen and under-theorised. This chapter considers what a turn towards a ‘green’ transitional justice scholarship might look like, and what this might mean for a ‘transformative’ approach. To do so, it draws from the emerging fields of green criminology and victimology, which have sought to challenge the anthropocentrism of dominant framings of crime and harm.